Radiant Joy followup

I'm way behind. Let's jump in:

Here are the long-ago promised pictures from the Radiant Joy premiere. I didn't take many this time. Here, I'm flanked by my posse, the powerhouse duo of Jack Stamp and Jason Worzbyt, who lead the bands program at IUP:



And here's my stalker, Vinnie, who played piano on the premiere of RedLine at Rowan earlier this year, and now played flute on the premiere of Radiant Joy. I think he should continue to seek out every group who's premiering a piece of mine, and play a different instrument with each. That's not too much to ask, right?



And of course, if you're curious about the actual piece itself, have a listen...

Radiant Joy World Premiere, IUP WInd Ensemble, Jack Stamp, conductor. 10/15/2006.

I had a great time out in Indiana, PA - perfect fall foliage (including the whirlwind drive back). I made it just in time for BGSU's preview day performance on Monday (I literally drove into town, straight to the music buildling, illegally parked out front, walked in the door, heard the performance, walked back out the door and drove home). It was a good shakedown for BGSU before their big performance as part of the New Music and Art Festival later that week. On Wed., JN showed up for the Festival, followed by my old buddy and Salamander Studios cohort, JM, on Thursday. Newm has a complete rundown of the festival over at his place, so I'll just sum up by saying I really dug hearing Wapwallopen again. The Adams/Reich influence really jumped out at me more this time, and it was a lot of fun. Maybe he should arrange it for band. ;) That night, the BGSU Philharmonia and Wind Ensemble put on the final show of the Festival, including Radiant Joy. I thought the entire evening was quite the concert, on both sides of the aisle, and I was delighted to be a part of it!

I have to run, but before I go, some other items of interest: Loose Id for brass ensemble and drumset is finished - if you're at Midwest, come to the premiere on Sat. morning, De. 23rd - Sound Inn Brass will knock you flat to the ballroom carpet with their playing. Also, Salamander Studios has a new track almost ready for release, featuring guest artist, Jonathan Newman. Stay tuned...

Radiant Joy premiere

I only have a second before I hit the road back to Bowling Green this morning. The premiere went well yesterday! I'm excited about this piece, and people seem to like it - who doesn't like a little joy in their day? Just wanted to say a quick "Thank you" to the Wind Symphony, the Concert Band, Dr. Jason Worzbyt, and of course Dr. Jack Stamp, for making this entire weekend possible and so much fun (and for all the fine dining!!).

Will try to post pictures later - got a 4-5 hour drive in front of me, followed by a preview performance of "Radiant Joy" by the Bowling Green Univ. Wind Symphony at 2:30! Their 'real' concert isn't until Sat. night, but today is a 'prospective student' day on campus, so the band has chosen to perform my piece. Smokin'!

IUP Day 2

Went to the Concert Band's rehearsal of Bloom. Their director, Jason Worzbyt, has done a great job with the piece - he takes it a a little bit faster than I do, and at first I was apprehensive, but much to my amazement, it works! He also had the low brass chords swell and recede on each chord change - something that had never occurred to me, but seemed very natural once I heard it. Jack and I were discussing this while we listened, and he made an interesting observation about this same experience with some of his own pieces. At times, other conductors have done certain things with a piece (whether a different tempo or some other interpretational difference) that he hadn't thought of, but it ends up working...for them. He went on to say that this successful, different interpretation by someone else doesn't alter the way he does the piece, and in the case of Bloom, I agree, at least with regard to the tempo. The next time I conduct it, I will take it at the slower tempo. It was definitely an odd experience to doubt my own, usually finicky, sense of tempo. Kinda cool, though.

Enough interpretational wonkery. Here's the band after rehearsal (with Jason and I obscuring a few members - we really need to come up with a better posing arrangement):



The band sounds really solid on the piece. I'm quite excited about the concert tomorrow (which happens to be some 40 miles away at the Pasquerilla Performing Arts Center in Johnstown, PA - long story involving unfinished hall renovations and such). It's always fun to have multiple pieces on a concert. It's really gratifying to hear how much attention to detail both Jack and Jason have put into Radiant Joy and Bloom, and both bands are obviously more than prepared for the show. Concert report tomorrow evening (or Monday, if we party too hard)...

Now back to work on Loose Id for the Sound Inn Brass ensemble - more about that later!

IUP Day 1

I'm in Indiana, Pennsylvania, for the world premiere of Radiant Joy. I spent the day driving across Ohio and western PA (through extraordinary Fall foliage scenery), and arrived in time for the 6pm rehearsal with the Wind Symphony. The band sounds great, and the piece really seems to work. We tweaked a few small things, but I ran out of corrections and changes before the rehearsal time was up! It's obvious Jack and the band have put in some dedicated work on the piece. The sax section was tight, and the percussion section was eating up the wicked mallet lines I have in a few spots. The whole band really seems to enjoy the piece - I have no fear the concert will groove effortlessly on Sunday!

Here's the band, with Jack on the left and me on the right (photo courtesy of Jason Worzbyt):



Interesting aside: Vinny (or is it Vinnie?), one of the flutists in the band (and grad conducting student), was the pianist for the premiere of RedLine at Rowan State last year. Dude, I promise I'm not following you around the country making you premiere each of my pieces!

Tomorrow I'll sit in on the Concert Band's rehearsal of Bloom. Jason Worzbyt, a colleague of mine from back in our Univ. of North Texas days, and the assistant director of bands at IUP, is conducting this group. Can't wait to hear it!

Ok, I've stayed up way too late this evening watching Daily Show reruns and such. I don't have cable TV at home, and this is probably why it should stay that way...

Radiant Joy rehearsals / Ultra-hunk

I've been delinquent in posting here, and not for a lack of interesting things going on. After all, a car crashed into the house next to me about 5:45 this morning. No one was hurt, and I was too groggy (and it was too cold) for me to go outside and start taking pictures. Sure was loud, though.

Anyway, Radiant Joy rehearsals have begin here at Bowling Green (and already well underway at IUP), and even at this early stage, I think the piece is going to sound pretty good. It has some four-part big-band style voicings in a couple of sections - saxes, clarinets, and later trumpets, and it actually works. Cool. The vibes and piano parts are, well, critical, and exposed, and the marimba part has some killer licks, and the bassoons and bass clarinet get to shine, and don't forget the Bari/Sop Sax duet. But it's not a hard piece. Really. I think.

Here's the BGSU Wind Symphony after rehearsal on Tuesday - they were short on time so I took this picture very quickly (also, I'm a crappy photographer):



Yes, it's small. Sorry. I need a wider website, I guess.

Anyway, I can tell they'll have no problem with the piece, and they even seem to like it, which is always a plus! The saxes in particular are eating up their parts (the sax studio here at BGSU, led by John Sampen, is smokin', from what I hear, and have heard). The percussion are getting a workout, and I'm getting schooled on hi-hat writing, too - many thanks to Greg Brown for that!

Ok, now that I have all that out of the way, here's the big reason to post. Eric Whitacre has been proclaimed an 'ultra-hunk' by ESPN. See for yourself!. Scroll way down past halfway. Since this probably won't last forever, here's a screenshot. This is absolutely hilarious.



As the kids say these days, that's "teh awesome."